Chase needed information. Typically there were three ways to gather information, social engineering, surveillance, and research. The forth method, however, force, tended to be more effective at times. In his case it was even more effective in that it didn't leave a mess behind when he was done.
After analyzing several networking sites as well as the company's home website, Chase constructed a digital chart of his father's prize software giant, Augury Data Systems:
Augury Data Systems
• Staff Listings
- Board of Directors (10)
- Executives (20)
- 1,013 Employees
• Data Management (Software)
Earnings per share growth: 32%
Revenue growth: 12%
Gross Profit Margins: 89%
R&D Expense: 180M
Price/earnings ratio: 5.38
Market cap: 14B
Industry: Technology
• News/Press Conferences
- Expected Upgrade 5.7.10 to Revolutionize Data Security
- Law Firm praises data service for effecient handling of cases
- City of Sacramento considers using Next-Gen software for their Billing Systems and Customer Support
- CEO Ankers to attend Inaugural Applications and Technology Industry Summit
According to the media, Augury was expected to launch some sort of hardware-software enhancements in the next week. They boasted a 50x performance improvement, returning data reports in record time. This seemed to match up with the R&D expenses too. The upgrade release could be an opportunity to strike at the old man. Hit him when the pressure is on. If he could find and expose a flaw in the software then that would be sufficient leverage at a crucial moment. However he was running out of time and if there was a flaw it would take a team of people more much talented and connected than himself. He would have to kick his blackmail scheme into high gear.
Chase arrived at the Augury building, a large eight floored office with a reflective glass windowed exterior. The ground floor had a tall ceiling that could be seen through glass from the well-lit lobby. There was front desk security and...unfortunately, cameras. Exerting a strength of willpower Chase kept in check the supernatural distortion of his image and walked to the front door, rapping non-threateningly on the glass. After a moment the guard looked up from the desk and walked over to him.
He called out so that the sound would carry, mouthing his words clearly, "The office is closed."
Glancing at the passkey port that bordered the door frame Chase replied, "I forgot my card," in the same mannerisms as the guard. The guard reluctantly opened the door and asked to see Chase's ID to confirm who he was. Chase looked him straight in the eye with a smile that overpowered his psyche. Chase ordered him to ignore Chase's presence and delete any footage of him that appeared on the cameras. He then asked for the floor where Mr. Ankers worked from and took the guard's security keys, walking to the elevators without issue. He rode them to the top floor and stepped out into a hall of cubicles. Each one had a large whirring computer beneath its desk that made the whole room hum. It was dark except for the bouncing graphics of screen savers on the monitors. One cubicle, however, was still occupied, its monitor casting a light bluish light on the form of a middle-aged man. His meager build, thick glasses, and white collared shirt marked him as a technitian or accountant. Either would do. Chase walked over and glanced over the man's shoulder at what he was working on. Because of the glare of the screen he hadn't even seen Chase's approach. Lines of code streamed by as he debugged scripts, most likely some portion of the new update that was expected to go live soon.
"A bit late to be working still..." began Chase.
The man flinched visibly and stammared, his mental process derailed and shock constricting his features. He adjusted his glasses as he attempted to peer through the darkness at the figure that had addressed him, panting from the sudden unexpected adrenaline. "Whoa, you scared the hell out of me, don't do that!"
"Sorry about that," Chase said, amused. "I just thought everyone would have left by now."
"Well everyone hasn't left," he snapped indignantly. "I'm in the middle of something, what do you want?"
"Well I had a question, actually, about what you're working on. It's the new upgrade, right? Are you having any problems on your end?"
"Why the heck do you think I'm here? I've been doing all nighters trying to...hey, wait, who are you anyways?"
"I'm one of Mr. Ankers's assistants," Chase quickly lied. "He's asked that I keep him up-to-date on the developments of the fixes."
"Yeah? Well having someone breathing down my neck is not going to get these done any faster," replied the programmer accepting Chase's lie. "Like I told him, these are going to take time. Like I told him months ago not to push the marketing until the product was tested and now we're doing all the testing just a week before it's scheduled to be on the market. We're going to be up to our asses in additional patches."
"Shall I relay this message to Mr. Ankers?" Chase said, quirking an eyebrow at the man.
Suddenly his attitude lost its zeal and he became quite timid, "Uh, um, no no, just tell him everything is fine and it'll be finished soon." Clearly Marcel Ankers was feared even here by his prized employees.
Chase put a hand on the man's shoulder and stared intently into his eyes. Confused, he began to protest, "What are you..." before his mind was swept away on a tide of a mesmerizing consciousness. From what Chase could gleam from him the software had a number of bugs and security issues from the rush to meet the deadline. Many of these flaws didn't become apparent until the testing phase. However, none of them were particularly illegal, just embarressing or inconvenient, nothing that was particularly scandalous. Chase even looked over the code himself but it would take him weeks just to isolate anything of worth. Well if he couldn't find something then he'd make something.
Instructing the programmer carefully he told him to design an intentional flaw, a backdoor routine to bypass the encryption that would allow the source code to be accessed. Chase gave careful instructions and even asked for a copy of the source code in the form of an external hard drive. Once he had finished with his orders the man turned back to his monitor and got to work.
Chase walked to the end of the hall and spied a door with the letters 'Marcel Ankers, CEO' on them in large brass letters. He tried the handle and found it was locked. Using the guard's keys he found the correct one and gained entry to a large comfortable looking miniture lobby. Luxury couches, framed paintings, and even a glass covered display of an antique computer from the 80's. A set of double doors stood beyond an empty receptionist desk. The old man's office. Surely some secret lay hidden in there. Again he used the keys to unlock the doors and enter. It was dark save for the tiny dots of light of the city skyline from the windows. He searched for a light switch by the door and clicked it on. A large glass desk sat with a large black desk chair.
A thin silver laptop sat at the desk's center. There were no decorations on the desk. Chase sat down. There was a strange smell about the chair, something acquired from having lived beyond a half-century with the subtle signs of decay, the scent of an elderly man. Chase opened the laptop which booted up responsively.
An hour went by as Chase prowled the hard drive of his father's work computer. There was nothing that stood out. Spreadsheets, figures, presentations, memos, & work schedules. He checked the system inbox which luckily didn't prompt him for a password. The work emails didn't reveal much more. Requests for status updates, meetings, and correspondence with accountants. It was pretty cut and dry, even the wording was cold and professional.
He spent another half hour copying down the information from the documents and emails and sending them to a location on the web for him to review later. With them he listed the network signatures and even designated an open port for a reverse connection so he could access the network from his home computer. By then half the night was over and Chase's eyes began to hurt from strain. This would be enough for now. He did his best to cover any tracks by deleting the activity logs and the sites he had sent the data. When he set the system to idle again and stood up to leave something caught his attention. The screen saver that came up, it was a photo. It was a photo of him with his father at his high school graduation, a younger Chase all dressed in the dark navy blue gown. Not only that but the next photo to scroll across the screen was also of the two of them, a family photo, all dressed in their finest attire and staring together coldly at the camera.
Chase leaned down, slapping his hands on the desk which shook slightly. "Getting sentimental now?! Of all the times, you decide to give a shit about me when I'm not under your thumb!" He caught himself, realizing he had yelled pretty loudly and snapped his mouth shut, pushing off from the desk and striding towards the door. Why the photos? We were just tools, us heirs of fortune. There was no reason to reminisce. In none of the pictures do we look happy together. So why have us there at all? At attempt to appear human perhaps. No matter, I will proceed as planned.
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